If I was better organised, I’d be in Lisbon this weekend doing one of my favourite things.

Instead I’m here in Melbourne, so I resort to other methods to get my kicks. There are very few things I would gladly wake up for at 4am any day of the week, but this is one of them. In the cold and dark of Sunday morning, I will join millions of fans of the world’s most popular sport to view the biggest game in European football, the Champions League Final.

Some of us just love the game of soccer, others are attached to one of the two finalists and many have their favourite players. Top soccer clubs have even become the latest show-off accessory for global billionaires, mainly from Russia and the US.

In fact, soccer’s pulling power and the sizeable and growing revenue streams the elite clubs attract provide some helpful themes and insight for companies and individuals struggling in the current climate. I’ll offer my top five here in a moment. But on Sunday our time, history will happen when two teams from the same city battle to become the champions of Europe for the first time since the European Cup was created in 1955 (it became the Champions League in 1992).

Atlético Madrid comes into the clash not only after claiming the Spanish championship for the first time ever, but having also broken a 10-year duopoly between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the La Liga summit.

I’m not pleased about that last bit because I’m a Real Madrid fan, but at least we are the other team to have won our way on to the Lisbon pitch this weekend.

The two clubs couldn’t be more different. Real is the most revenue-rich soccer team in the world. Atlético is crippled by debt. Real’s impressive Santiago Bernabeu Stadium dominates prime real estate space in the centre of the Spanish capital while Atlético’s patch is across the city in the less fashionable Arganzuela district.

It will be Atlético’s first appearance in the final of the Champions League, or its predecessor the European Cup, in 40 years, with their two prior efforts ending badly. They’re nicknamed “the jinxed ones" for a reason. “The Meringues" return as seasoned campaigners, having won nine of their 12 Champions League and European Cup finals over time.

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Yet Atlético’s performance this season has seen them shake off their second-class status in their home city. Real Madrid, which previously viewed them with amusement, must now respect them as genuine rivals.

The underdogs will still have their work cut out for them because Real Madrid is on a mission to become the first club to be crowned European champions 10 times.

Top of the table

Revenues cited in the original Money League table of 1996-97 saw English Premier League side Manchester United as the only club to generate more than €100 million. Now the top 20 earn way more than that, demonstrating football’s resilience to challenging market conditions, Deloitte says.

Having money and spending it wisely, though, are two different things. A case in point is the English Premier League’s Manchester City, a club that recently bought my local A-League club, Melbourne Heart. After a lacklustre season that eventually resulted in the sacking of coach John Aloisi, Heart fans viewed the takeover as something of a rescue, given the depths of Man City’s purses.

No matter that those purses are funded by their owners from the mysterious, closed and seemingly repressive regime of Abu Dhabi. In fact, cynics have suggested the purchase of Melbourne Heart was a bit of good PR on Man City’s part after the club was booked for spending too much money for the wrong reasons.

Just over a week ago Manchester City was sanctioned for failing Financial Fair Play rules designed to provide a level playing field for clubs of different financial positions in the UEFA league. It was fined £49 million ($88 million) for spending too much buying players.Officials have also capped its Champions League squad number for next year at 21 players. UEFA introduced FFP because it fears many clubs are risking their futures by spending beyond their means, often to attract and keep star players. Such behaviour is ruining the game, officials say. Man City reportedly posted combined losses of almost £149 million for the past two seasons – £97 million in 2012 and £51.6 million in 2013.

Whatever the motivation, it looks like Manchester City’s take-up of Melbourne Heart will result in a new look, a new name and (I hope) a new theme song. Better on-field results would be a bonus, too.

Five tips

As for what takeouts all of this has for those hoping for better future prospects, here are five tips:

■ Please your fans / friends / customers: they don’t really mind where the money’s coming from so long as their team’s getting the best chance of winning;

■ Own your real estate: Italian clubs don’t own their own stadiums, which makes it hard for them to invest and to generate the match-day revenue of their European peers;

■ Invest in your people: Germany’s soccer talent-development academies across almost 400 sites are producing some of the world’s best players(play-making midfielder
Mesut Özil
, ex-Real Madrid and now of Arsenal is my favourite) and successful clubs. Four German clubs are included in Deloitte’s Money League, and I’m predicting a German victory in this year’s World Cup;

■ Invest in emerging markets: Turkish clubs Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe made it into the top 20 this year, the first time since 2005-06 that two clubs from outside the “big five" European leagues have made the Money-League cut; and

■ Know that surprises can happen: out of the chaos of the French economy comes Paris Saint-Germain, which this year blasted its way into the Money League’s top five with commercial revenue of €254.7 million – the highest-ever single-revenue source in the history of the table.